Wonder What's Next
by illyrilex
Summary: Thanksgiving One-shot: King spends Thanksgiving with the Sakazaki family (and Robert).


**Well, well. I wanted to get this out before the Thanksgiving holiday, but, obviously, that didn't happen. Of course, I'm only a day late, so that's not too bad, right? Anyway, everyone belongs to SNK, King's name and her aunt and uncle aren't canon, and I'm sorry.**

**Onward~**

* * *

Cécile Levasseur, who preferred to go by the alias "King," pulled up to an unassuming house that wasn't terribly far from her own apartment, put her car in park, and leaned her head back against the seat while music blared from the vehicle's speakers. She fixed her eyes on a ridiculously large pumpkin pie that sat on the passenger seat next to her, all the while thinking about how much she actually sort of hated Thanksgiving. Year after year she would go to her aunt and uncle's house to spend time not with them, but with her younger brother, Jean, in an effort to restore a sense of normalcy that had been lost to the siblings a long time ago. However, she had made the decision to stay away this year, not just for the sake of her own sanity, but for Jean, who didn't deserve to have yet another holiday ruined by the ugly fighting that always broke out between her and their aunt and uncle. Instead, she was going to spend the day at home, with just her cat, eating vegetables and pie and enjoying the quiet.

At least, that was the plan… until her friend, Yuri Sakazaki, got wind of her intentions and insisted that she spend the holiday with her and _her_ family.

"You're _not_ gonna spend it alone, Céccy! That's too depressing," Yuri told her when she found out that King wasn't going home (or anywhere else) for the occasion. "Just… come over and hang out with us for a little while. We won't berate you."

King didn't know what it was: maybe it was the look on Yuri's face when she told her about her plans, or the sincerity in her voice... or maybe it was the fact that the two were still trying to repair their friendship after a hellish situation during the summer nearly destroyed it, but she decided that, maybe, spending the holiday with the Sakazakis wouldn't be a bad thing. With that in mind, King shut off the car, grabbed the pie and walked up to the front door, where she rang the bell and waited.

Several moments passed, but there was no answer. A little uneasy, King was about to ring the bell a second time, but the door suddenly flew open, revealing a cloud of smoke and Yuri's boyfriend, Robert Garcia. He was wearing a much too small, pastel-coloured apron that was decorated with cupcakes, and his reading glasses were perched on top of his head. He held an oven mitt in one hand and smelled of expensive cologne and fresh garlic.

"Oh! King! Hey," he greeted while taking the pie from King's hands. "You picked a hell of a time to come over…"  
"What do you mean? I was invited..."  
"No, I know," Robert said quickly. "It's just —"

At that exact moment there was a loud crash from somewhere inside the house, followed by unintelligible yelling. King made a face at Robert, ready to ask what was going on, but stopped when Yuri stomped out of the kitchen brandishing a turkey baster.

"I don't know what the big deal is," she was yelling angrily. "If I wanna — CÉCCY!"

Yuri's eyes brightened as she caught sight of King on the porch. She dashed to the door, tossed the turkey baster to Robert (who somehow caught it without dropping the pie or the oven mitt) and snatched King's hands; she dragged her inside the house, up the stairs, and into her bedroom, where she promptly shut the door.

"Céccy —" Yuri crossed the room and sat down on her bed with a sigh — "I messed up."

King furrowed her brow, a sense of almost _existential_ dread setting in.

"What the hell was that?! What did you do…?!"  
"Well. I ummm…"

Yuri began lazily running a hand through her hair over and over, a far off look in her half-closed eyes that King recognized immediately.

"Yuri! Are you high right now?!"  
"I opened a wormhole and bent time," came Yuri's nonsensical reply. "And now Dad and Ryo are mad at me."  
"You _opened_ a _wormhole_," King said slowly. "And bent time."  
"Well, yeah. And, I mean… I get why they'd be upset. But that doesn't mean they get to tell me how to live my life."

King frowned and pushed a lock of stray hair out of her face. This wasn't the first time that Yuri had clashed with her family over the way she did things, and it damn well wasn't going to be the last — unless she somehow found a way to magically restore her virginity, close up the piercing in her nose, stop using edibles to treat her migraines, and raise her GPA… all while living and breathing Kyokugen Karate, of course.

"Meanwhile, Robbie's not even taking up for me," Yuri pouted. "He's just there with his head in the sand, making his mom's artichokes and pretending that everything is fine. It's not fine. If it were fine, I wouldn't be staring through the darn _galaxy_ right now!"  
"The galaxy?!" King asked, amused but also somewhat alarmed. "Yuri, what did you take?!"  
"Okay," Yuri answered. "I woke up with a really bad migraine — the kind where it feels like your head is trapped in a vice and is about to snap off at the neck? — so I decided to try these new peanut butter cups that I got, but I ate half of one and it didn't work, right? So I ate the other half and now I don't really know what's happening. You're really here, right?"

King couldn't help herself: she burst into laughter while Yuri flattened herself against her mattress so she could stare at the ceiling.

"Yes, I'm here," King said as she composed herself. "But do you know how many _milligrams_ you took?"  
"I dunno. Like. Fifty."  
"Fifty?!" King exclaimed. "How do you expect to function?!"  
"I was hoping you could help me," Yuri replied as she turned her head slightly.  
"How…?!"  
"Come with me."  
"...What...?"  
"Go over there —" Yuri pointed to a lockbox on her desk — "and get some blueberries."

King crossed her arms over her chest but didn't move from her spot near the door.

"Please?" Yuri pleaded. "It'll be fun. And I need someone to help keep me from flying away."  
"How can I possibly do that if I'm stoned, too?"  
"I dunno, but you're smart so you'll figure it out."  
"Yuri."  
"No, but, listen, King-san. Céc. Céccy. If you're worried about driving, it'll wear off by the time you have to go home, so there's that. But, also, I don't wanna offend you or anything but you're a pretty angry person, and you're gonna be in the company of my dad for longer than usual. My dad, who wants you to get together with Ryo and have dozens of little Kyokugen babies. And you're not gonna have your fancy-schmancy wine to take the edge off when he says or does something that makes you mad."  
"Well, yeah, but —"  
"Not only that," Yuri went on, her voice suddenly elevated, "but you told my dad about Big's guy — about _that_! And even though he didn't believe you it doesn't mean he won't bring it up — in front of the boys! You're gonna _need_ to be able to laugh if he does that, otherwise…!"

Yuri trailed off as King walked across the room and picked up a small tin of chocolate-covered, cannabis infused blueberries from the lockbox on the desk. She plucked two candies out of the package and popped them in her mouth, suddenly very concerned about the points Yuri had brought up — particularly that last one. Her rape at the hands of one of Mr. Big's henchmen had been hard enough to come to terms with _before_ she stupidly decided to tell none other than Takuma Sakazaki about it.

Takuma Sakazaki, who laughed at her confession because he flat out didn't believe her — and had no doubt told plenty of other people about what she had said to him that day… including his son, whom he almost desperately wanted her to get together with.

"Ohh emm geee! Thank you," Yuri exclaimed while King chewed. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"  
"Nothing like a little peer pressure to spice up an otherwise garbage holiday," King responded dryly. She approached the bed, removed her jacket, and flopped down beside Yuri, her eyes on the ceiling fan.

King couldn't help thinking that she really should have known better than to expect to have a nice, _normal_ Thanksgiving holiday. The last time she had actually had a good, _ordinary_ one was probably when she was still a small child in Montrouge — when _both_ of her parents were still alive. But once her mom died, well… that's when everything became messy… and it just kept getting messier and messier until her and Jean were Stateside with Aunt Maddy and Uncle Gary, and arguing became synonymous with the occasion.

Granted, while, King couldn't really see herself having any nasty words with the Sakazakis or Robert, the fact of the matter was that she had definitely distanced herself from them after the assault: Lies on top of lies to keep what happened to her a secret, lest she be looked at differently by these people whom she had grown to care for. But now that Takuma knew about the attack, the potential for things to go wrong had grown exponentially, regardless of whether or not he believed her (which he didn't). Not only that, but her somewhat awkward history with Ryo would only serve to make things that much worse if he found out.

"What are you thinking about?"

Yuri asked after a little while, bringing King out of her thoughts. She blinked a few times (were the fan's blades always that… _sharp_?) before shutting her eyes and placing a hand on the small scar on her forehead — the only visible remnant of the incident.

"I'm thinking… that this probably won't end well," King answered slowly and honestly. She paused before asking, "What about you?"  
"Ha. I'm thinking about turtles," Yuri chuckled. "They're so weird looking — they're like little old men. Like pugs. Pugs are like little grumpy looking old men."  
"And, yet, people somehow find them cute."  
"Don't judge."

King took a deep breath; the bed was so comfortable, and she really didn't want to move, but, also, her feet were tingling and her ears felt almost like they were clogged with cotton balls. She made a face as she realized that the blueberries were working pretty fast — presumably because she took them on an empty stomach. She opened her eyes, ready to say something, but the very first thought that popped in her head disappeared — like it had been _vaporized_. However, that didn't really matter because someone knocked on the door.

"Who izzit?!" Yuri snapped while she sat up.  
"It's me," came Robert's muffled response.  
"Oh, fine. Come in."

Robert, now bespectacled and free of the loaner apron, entered the room. He looked from Yuri to King, suspicious.

"What are you two doing?"  
"I'm making moves on your girl," King joked from her place on the bed. "Wanna watch?"

Both Robert and Yuri turned interesting shades of red, though Yuri was clearly much more flustered than her mate.

"C-Céccy," she stammered, "you-you're… I mean, you're super pretty and you have a really nice butt, but I wouldn't… know… what to..."

King started giggling uncontrollably while she sat up. She didn't know why she thought it was a good idea but she impulsively tackled Yuri (who let out a startled squeal and laughed) and went dead weight on top of her, as her ability to move was starting to wane.

"My master plan is almost complete," King declared as she pulled herself up so she could look down at her friend. "I've been planning to steal her from you all along, Rob!"  
"King," Robert said dangerously. Meanwhile, Yuri glanced up at King (who was _still_ giggling), her cheeks a deep shade of crimson.

"What the hell is _this_?!"

Everyone turned to the doorway to see Ryo Sakazaki standing with his mouth agape, his face the same colour as his sister's.

"Oh, hey, Ryo," King said very casually.  
"What the hell are you doing to my sister?!" Ryo practically yelled.  
"Getting a little too close for comfort," Robert spoke up.

King laughed some more as she climbed off of Yuri and brought herself upright; she tried to get a hold of herself, but messing with these guys was always so much _fun_! It was _fun_ to watch Ryo and Robert squirm… and maybe Yuri, too. Nevertheless, she pushed some hair away from her eyes and pressed her lips together in an effort to stop giggling, but the look on Ryo's face as he had some sort of grand realization set her off all over again.

"You two are in here getting stoned!" he exclaimed, clearly appalled.  
"_We're_ not getting stoned," Yuri corrected as she positioned herself upright. "Just Céccy, because I'm already gone."

She punctuated the word "gone" with a Dab (Robert face-palmed) which made King start giggling all over again. She buried her face in her hands and tried to pull herself together, which was proving much more difficult than she thought.

"Dad. Is waiting," Ryo said through gritted teeth.  
"Yeah, I came up here to get you two," Robert added.  
"Ooh," King replied, suddenly excited by the thought of eating. She jumped to her feet (didn't Yuri say something about artichokes?) and strolled past Ryo and Robert. However, Ryo abruptly grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"What the hell?" she asked.  
"We need to talk," Ryo told her, his tone very serious.  
"Now's not a good time. Leave a message at the beep."  
"Beep!" Yuri called from her place on the bed.

Ryo looked into King's face; she found herself focusing on his goddamn, ridiculously nice hazel eyes and cleared her throat as another fit of laughter threatened to overtake her.

"I'm _serious_, King."  
"Dude," Robert mumbled. "Leave it alone."

King raised her eyebrows and tried to play it cool, but a familiar sense of unease started to break through her high. What could Ryo possibly want to talk to her about? And why did he look so serious? Leave what alone? Did Yuri know what was up? She turned to her friend, who gave her a withering look; apparently _her_ high was on hold, too, and as much as King hated to acknowledge it, she knew deep down that Ryo wanted to talk to her about the incident.

She sighed and continued out of the room, determined to forget everything and stuff her face with (almost) anything she could find.

As King made her way down the stairs she was overtaken by the strange, yet familiar sensation that she was falling through the floor. She had to grab the banister tightly as she walked, and then any furniture she passed on the way to the kitchen, where Takuma was cutting into the charred turkey.

"Ah! King," he greeted as he cut through the breast. "When did you get here?"  
"I've been here for a bit," she answered as she leaned on the counter.  
"Well, go ahead and sit down — this will be ready in just a moment."

King saluted the older man before turning and making her way to the table, where Yuri was already heaping food onto plates, a dopey smile on her face.

"Shhhh," she said quietly while holding a finger to her lips. "You can't let him know that you're floating, too."  
"Do you think he'd kick me out?"  
"No," came Ryo's voice as he lowered himself into a chair across the table. "He'd probably make you do a dozen sit-ups."  
"Or maybe even challenge you to a match," Robert added while he took the seat across from Yuri.  
"That could be fun," King said, oddly amused by the prospect of sparring in her state (which she had definitely done before… against Ryo).

Just then Takuma emerged from the kitchen with a serving dish full of turkey, which looked dry and burnt and awful and King was so glad that she was a vegetarian.

Soon, all of the food was served. King and Yuri had piled their plates ridiculously high with a little bit of everything (except for the meat in King's case), as they were both afflicted by a mean case of pot munchies. Meanwhile, each of the men had taken extremely small servings of the charred, dried out turkey, very obviously turned off by the prospect of eating it.

"So," Takuma said as he picked up a blackened leg. "What is everyone thankful for?"

King made a face. She fucking hated it when she had to answer that question for Maddy and Gary; it was forced and contrived, no matter who asked.

"So you guys do that, too," she said dryly.  
"Of course," Ryo replied. His gaze lingered on King's face before he asked, "So, what are you thankful for?"  
"Chocolate covered blueberries," King answered without missing a beat. Yuri snickered while her brother shot both women disapproving glances.  
"Samesies," Yuri sang.  
"And here I thought you'd say tall redheads," Robert spoke up, a devilish smile on his face.

King's eyes instantly widened; she quickly stuffed a forkful of mashed potatoes into her mouth (luckily Yuri hadn't burned them) and glared at Robert for alluding to that time him and Ryo caught her making out with Vanessa. Yuri kicked him under the table — hard — and shook her head.

"Dad doesn't need to know about that," she whispered, though everyone at the table heard her.  
"Oh, Yuri," Takuma grinned. "There's precious little your dear old dad doesn't know about."  
"Dad actually _does_ know a lot of interesting things," Ryo commented. He set his eyes directly on King, who suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable despite her high. She crammed a dinner roll into her mouth and looked away, hoping that she would sober up so that she could get the hell out of there.

###

Thankfully, the rest of dinner went off without a hitch: everyone engaged in friendly small talk, though weird comments did pop up here and there. Once the table was cleared and the leftovers were put away, the group decided to turn on a post-dinner movie. However, Takuma had fallen prey to a tryptophan induced food coma; he fell asleep in his recliner almost immediately. Soon after, Yuri and Robert conspicuously disappeared, which left King by herself with Ryo. Normally, it wasn't a big deal, but there was something in his demeanor that was beginning to trigger her anxiety.

"I think I should probably go," she said after a while.  
"Oh. Well… Are you okay to drive?  
"I am, yeah."  
"You know, you really shouldn't do that stuff," Ryo stated earnestly.  
"Well, maybe _you_ should. Then you wouldn't be such a hard-ass all the time."  
"Ha."

King rose from her seat and realized with a frown that her jacket was still upstairs. Almost as if he read her mind, Ryo said, "Your jacket is still in Yuri's room. I'll go get it."  
"I can do it," King replied.  
"No, no. You stay here. I'll bring it down."

Ryo crossed the area in several easy strides. He disappeared up the stairs, leaving King alone with a snoring Takuma. She pressed her lips together as she walked to the front door and waited.

"Here," Ryo said as he reappeared. He handed King the leather garment; she hastily put it on and placed her hand on the doorknob.  
"Well… bye," she said as she started to pull the door open. Within seconds Ryo pushed it shut. King furrowed her brow.

"What are you doing?"  
"Can we talk now?"  
"I… sure," King replied coolly, though, internally, she was screaming. She had a sinking feeling that she knew exactly what Ryo wanted to talk to her about — and it was making her sick. There was a loaded silence between the two before he asked point blank:

"Is it true?"  
"Is what true?"  
"...The rape."

Here it was — the conversation King had been dreading ever since the incident first happened. She opened her mouth to respond but no sound came out — all but confirming Ryo's suspicions.

"Dad said it was a made up story to make Yuri look good. It wasn't, was it?"  
"It was… I mean..."  
"Please just answer me, Céc."  
"I-I need to go," King stammered. She pulled the door open and walked outside into the cool, rainy night. She couldn't do this. Not now. Not fucking _ever_.

"Wait!" Ryo entreated as he followed close behind. He put his hand on King's shoulder and spun her around to face him but she forcefully shrugged out of his grasp.  
"Don't touch me!" she snapped. She started down the steps, but, once again, Ryo grabbed her, and, once again, she shook his hand off.

"King —!"  
"I already told you not to touch me! Do it again and I will knock you out!" she exclaimed angrily. And she absolutely meant it: If kicking the shit out of Ryo Sakazaki would allow her to get the hell out of there she would do it gladly. Luckily he seemed to understand; he put his hands up and took a small step back.

"Alright. I'm sorry. I won't do it again."  
"No, fuck you," King blurted, unable to keep from lashing out as she was overwhelmed by anger and guilt and shame and everything else she had worked so hard to stuff into the back of her mind.

"What the hell —?! That's not fair," Ryo shouted, his temper matching King's. "You don't get to talk to me like that when I'm just trying to have an honest conversation with you!"  
"An 'honest conversation?!'" King spat. "That's exactly what Asamiya told me before she completely wrecked my shit!"  
"Asamiya?! _Athena_?!" Ryo balked.  
"Forget it —" King turned away so she could walk the short distance to her car — "We're done here."  
"No way! There's no way in hell we're done!"

King pressed her lips together as the rain poured down on her. She abruptly pivoted so she could see Ryo, who was standing with his arms crossed and his jaw set.

"You want to have an honest conversation?!" King yelled. "Fine, let's have an honest conversation! Yeah, I was raped by one of Big's goons when he ordered a hit on me —"  
"_Big_?!"  
" — and, yeah, I lied about it! I lied about mono — about everything under the sun — because I didn't want people to know that some asshole beat the shit out of me — _me_! — and damn near choked me to death while he… did… what he did! I didn't want people — I didn't want _you_ — to look at me the way you're looking at me right now! So how's that for your honest fucking conversation?!"

King's voice cracked when she delivered that last line, and, before she knew it, hot tears were cascading down her flushed cheeks. Ryo, meanwhile, looked down at her from his place on the porch. His expression softened as he approached.

"How… how could you let something like that happen?" he inquired quietly.  
"You honestly think I _let_ it happen?! Tu putain de connard!" King screamed tearfully before she stomped toward her car again.  
"That's not what I — that came out wrong!" Ryo called as he ran after her.  
"Whatever," King sniffled, all at once exhausted. "I'm done talking about this with you."  
"Céc —!"

King shook her head and finally climbed into her car. She jammed the key in the ignition, desperate to leave, but stopped when Ryo hopped into the passenger side.

"Sortir de ma voiture," King growled. Before she could say or do anything else, Ryo pulled her into a tight, albeit awkward hug, catching her completely off-guard. Despite her best efforts she let out a choked sob as she leaned into his chest, eyes shut tight, hands balled into fists.

"I'm sorry that happened to you," Ryo murmured as he stroked King's wet hair.  
"Please just let me go home," she wept.  
"...Okay…"

With that, Ryo let King go and exited the vehicle. She sped away as fast as she could, completely unconcerned about the speed limit or the rain. She needed to get away so she could process what just happened… with an entire bottle of wine.

* * *

_Yep. That finally happened. Or something. Here's some post:_

_* The ridiculously large pumpkin pie is from Costco. If you read Thanks For Nothing, you know that King brought one of those to her aunt and uncle the previous year._  
_* The rift in King and Yuri's friendship is a direct result of the events of Hurt, when Yuri accidentally revealed King's secret to Athena. Go read it._  
_* The blueberries and peanut butter cups Yuri has are real. Two blueberries = 10mg of THC — the stuff that gets you high._  
_* Headcanon: King is originally from Montrouge, which is located in the southern Parisian suburbs._  
_* Idk if it's obvious, but Yuri is totally bi-curious._  
_* King sparring with Ryo while stoned happened in Oxygen to Breathe._  
_* When Athena first tries to talk to King about what she glimpsed in her head (this all happened in Hurt) she told her that she wanted to have an "honest conversation" about it. Obviously King didn't forget about that._  
_* In case you're new, King's cover story while she was trying to recover from the assault was that she had mono. The scar was a direct result of the beating she took, though she told everyone that she hit her head on the corner of the coffee table._  
_* Tu putain de connard = you fucking asshole_  
_* Sortir de ma voiture = get out of my car_

_Alright, you guys and gals. I'm drained. This drained me. Hopefully it didn't ruin anyone's day. But now that Ryo knows, well... now what? I guess we'll have to see... Thanks for reading!_


End file.
